1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to information processing. More particularly, the invention relates to a method, article of manufacture and apparatus for providing browsing information to a user browsing a plurality of network addresses using a browsing program.
2. Background of the Related Art
Users of client computers search for and retrieve various forms of data from server computers. The client computers and server computers communicate via a network of other computers, e.g., the Internet. Transactions and data transfer between a client computer and a particular server computer is performed according to a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) using a standard page description language known as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). One feature under HTML is to provide a link that references an electronic document or web page at a network address identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
To facilitate the search and retrieval of data, an HTML-compatible browser program is typically installed on a client computer. A user may utilize the browser program to search and view different web pages from various server computers at different network addresses or URLs. In particular, a user may select or click on a link to view another web page referenced by that link. Once a link has been selected, the browser program generally changes the color of the link to indicate that the referenced web page has been visited.
Although changing the color of the link is useful to indicate that a referenced web page has been previously visited, such changing of color may also mislead or confuse the user.
Consider the example when the user utilizes a browser program to visit a web page. The web page often contains a link that points to another web page. If the user previously visited the referenced web page, the browser program typically changes the color of the link. However, the user may have visited the referenced web page in a different context, e.g., xe2x80x9cout of context,xe2x80x9d with respect to the currently displayed web page. Such xe2x80x9cout of contextxe2x80x9d web pages may include web pages that were neither previously visited from the currently displayed web page nor previously visited from another recently visited web page. In this case, if the browser program changes the color of the link, the user may skip over, i.e., not consider, the xe2x80x9cout of contextxe2x80x9d web page. Further, if the user thinks that the previously visited web page was visited from the currently displayed web page, the user may not be able to properly distinguish between the perceived and actual context of the previously visited web page.
Therefore, a need exists for a method, article of manufacture and apparatus for identifying the context of a previously visited and referenced web site to a currently displayed web site.
The invention provides a method, article of manufacture and apparatus for providing browsing information to a user browsing a plurality of network addresses using a browsing program. Specifically, the method comprises rendering a first electronic document containing a link that points to a second electronic document, and rendering the link in a first, second or third manner. The link is rendered in a first manner if the second electronic document was previously accessed from at least one of the first electronic document and a recently accessed electronic document. The link is rendered in a second manner if the second electronic document was previously accessed from another document other than at least one of the first electronic document and the recently accessed electronic document. The link is rendered in a third manner if the second electronic document was previously unaccessed.
In another embodiment, the invention also provides an apparatus comprising a storage device and a microprocessor coupled to the storage device. The storage device stores a browser program. Upon retrieving and executing the browser program, the microprocessor renders a first electronic document containing a link that points to a second electronic document, and renders the link in a first, second or third manner. The microprocessor renders the link in a first manner if the second electronic document was previously accessed from at least one of the first electronic document and a recently accessed electronic document. The microprocessor renders the link in a second manner if the second electronic document was previously accessed from another electronic document other than at least one of the first electronic document and the recently accessed electronic document. The microprocessor renders the link in a third manner if the second electronic document was previously unaccessed.
Additionally, a computer readable medium storing a software program is provided, where the software program, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method. In one embodiment of the computer readable medium, the method comprises rendering a first electronic document containing a link that points to a second electronic document, and rendering the link in a first, second or third manner. The link is rendered in a first manner if the second electronic document was previously accessed from at least one of the first electronic document and a recently accessed electronic document. The link is rendered in a second manner if the second electronic document was previously accessed from another document other than at least one of the first electronic document and the recently accessed electronic document. The link is rendered in a third manner if the second electronic document was previously unaccessed.